Page 81 of Rough Ride

There was a beat of silence.

“We have a problem.”

“I know that. I said I can’t find him. He was supposed to be here.” She sounded hysterical and she didn’t care. Whoever had him could be hurting him. Or worse, he could be dying.

Dillon sighed. “No. The woman, the person he said would want him dead.”

“Yeah, he said she was dead.”

“She’s not. She’s alive and has been on the island for a while. She was spotted by someone a while ago.”

“What do you mean?”

Before he could answer, Sean tore the phone from her hands.

“Dillon, this is Kaheaku. Tell me what’s going on.”

She watched as his expression hardened.

“If Sam Jr. is involved, he took Eli somewhere on their land. I think I know where. There are a few little buildings left over from when his grandfather ran the place. They’ll be out there. Can you track my cell? Do it, that way you will know where I am.”

He hung up the phone. “I’m going to go out and look at some of those old buildings.”

She started after him, and he shook his head. “You stay here.”

“I think not.” There was no way she was going to stay behind.

“I think you stay here and stay safe. St. John would have my ass if I let you go with me.”

“Crysta, the note Eli left you said he wanted you to stay here,” Danny said.

“And I think he was drugged and worried I would come after him on my own. I won’t.”

“This isn’t a good idea. It would be best, in my opinion, if you stayed home,” Sean said.

“And I think I do what I want. I go with you or I follow you. Take your pick.”

She went into the locked cabinet where she knew Eli kept his guns. Crysta pulled out a handgun and some bullets.

“Come on. We can argue on the way there. Danny, make sure you field any calls. We both have our cells.” She strode past both men.

When she realized Sean wasn’t following her, she looked back over her shoulder at him. “We don’t have time to waste.”

“Fuck. St. John is going to kill me.”

But he followed her. They were in the truck and on their way out of the ranch within minutes.

“Do you know where they are?”

“If they are on Kaheaku land, yes. We’re gonna break the law here.”

“There is one thing my family needs to learn. They can say anything they want, but screw with someone I love, and I prove that blood isn’t thicker than water.”

He chuckled. “You got it.”

* * *

“He was such a pest.”

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